Car-brake.



- R. M. Fox. on BRAKE. nrnmnlon rn-nn U13, 1010. I 973,933. Patented0012.25, 1 10.

3 SKEET HKEET 1.

UNITED STAfifi3iFgTENT OFFICE.

RICHARD M. FOX, OF BLUEFIELD, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TOJOHN P. HUNT, OF CHATHAM, VIRGINIA.

CAR-BRAKE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD M. FoX, a citizen of the United. States ofAmerica, residing at Bluefield, in the county of Mercer and State ofWest Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCar-Brakes, of which the following is a specification, referencebeinghad therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to emergency brakes for railway cars and othervehicles, and the principal object of the same is to provide anemergency brake mechanism by means of which wedging shoes may be forcedbet-ween the wheels and the surface over which they are traveling sothat the vehicle will be brought to a sudden stop.

In'carrying out the objects of the invention generally stated above itwill be understood, of course, that the essential features thereof arenecessarily susceptible of changes in details and structuralarrangements, one preferred and practical embodiment of which is shownin the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a fragmentary view inside elevation of a street car, showing the improved emergency brakemechanism applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of thebrake mechanism. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in sideelevation of a car truck showing one of the brake shoes and its supportand guide. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of the shoes andits operating arm. Fig. 5 is a similar view of one of the guiding andsupporting arms. Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line66, Fig. 3.

In the accompanying drawings, it will be observed that the improvedbrake mechanism has been shown applied to a street car although it willbe understood, of course, that such use is but one of many to which theinvention may be applied.

Referring to said drawings by numerals, 1 designates the car equippedwith the usual front and rear platforms 23, said car being provided withthe usual spring connected side beam 4 that extend longitudinally of thecar and in which the axles 56 of the sets of wheels 77 are journaled.

A hand lever 8 is pivotally mounted in each plat-form, the handleportion thereof being equipped with a pawl 9 adapted for engagement witha rack 10 for holding said Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 3, 1910.

Patented Oct. 25, 1910.

Serial No. 535,905.

lever in the desired position. The lever of platform 2 has its projectedlower end pivotally mounted betweenthe end of a pair of divergent rods1213, whose spread apart ends are equipped with an eye 14 for pivotalengagement with opposite end portions of a transversely arranged bar 15,also equipped with end eyes 16 and which has a pair of brake shoes 17pivotally mounted thereon, one of each shoes being located between theend eyes of rods 1213, and the end eyes of bar 15. Said shoes 17 areflat and elongated and are slidably supported in the transverse guideslots 18 of the angular ends 19 of hanger arms 20 that are suspendedfrom beams 4 so that said shoes may be moved bodily through theirguiding slots to a position in front of two of the wheels 7 so that saidwheel will run onto the free end port-ions of said shoes, so that thewheel will be chocked, in a manner well understood.

As is shown more clearly in Fig. 2, the end eyes of bar 15 projectbeyond the sides of the ear, and each have one end of a longitudinallyarranged bar 21 swiveled thereto, the other ends of said bars beinginturned to provide a crank arm 22 upon which a shoe 23 has one endpivotally mounted, said shoes 23 being duplicates of shoes 17 and areguided in their movements to positions where they will be engaged bywheels 7*, by means of pendent guide arms 24 that are suspended frombeams 4, said guide arm being duplicates of the guide arms 20.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that the brake mechanism describedwill control the movement of a vehicle in one direction by jamming theshoes between wheels 7-7 and the rails. A duplicate system is providedfor controlling the movement of the vehicle in an opposite directionsaid system being operated from the rear platform 3 by means of the handlever, pawl and rock bar thereon, the divergent rods 25, transverse bar26, shoes 27 of said bar 27, rods 28 extending therefrom, its shoes 29and guiding arms 30 therefor, being identical with the similar partsthat are .operated from the front platform 2. But in the latter systemthe rods 28 are necessarily arranged parallel with inner sides of theshoes instead of on the outer sides of the shoes, for a reason that willbe obvious.

In operation, when the necessity arises for an emergency application ofthe brakes, it

will be seen that by rocking one of the hand levers 8, one set of shoeswill be forced to position in front of each wheel so that said wheelswill ride upon the same thereby jamming the shoes into bindingengagement with the rails and resulting in a sudden stoppage of the car.Obviously, to release the car it will have to be forced rearwardly toremove its wheels from the shoes.

What I claim as my invention is 1. An emergency brake mechanism forvehicles comprising operating levers, transverse bars, pivotal rodconnections between said bars and said lever, brake shoes carried bysaid bars adapted to be forced beneath the wheels of a vehicle, a rodprojecting from each end of said bars, brake shoes carried thereby, andguiding and supporting means for said shoes adapted to be suspended froma vehicle.

2. An emergency brake mechanism comprising brake shoes for engagementbetween wheels of a vehicle and the surface over which said wheelstravel, guiding and supporting means through which said shoes aremovable, and means for operating said shoes.

3. An emergency brake mechanism comprising brake shoes, a supporting armfor each shoe provided with a slot through which said shoes are movable,and means for moving said shoes through said slots.

4. An emergency brake mechanism comprising a transverse bar, brake shoespivoted thereto, rods projecting from the ends of said bar, brake shoespivoted to said rods, guiding and supporting means for said shoes, aplatform lever, and pivotal rod connections between said lever and saidtransverse bar.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with avehicle, of guides arranged in front and behind the wheels thereof,brake shoes slidably mounted in said guides, and means for operatingsaid shoes to project the same between the wheel of the vehicle and thesurface over which said wheels are traveling.

6. In an emergency brake apparatus, the combination. with a vehicle, ofpendent arms arranged in front and behind each wheel thereof, said armsprovided with a guiding opening through their free end, a brake shoeslidable in each guide opening, and means operated from the vehicle formoving said shoes in their guide openings to place the same between thesaid wheels and the surface over which the wheels are traveling.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

RICHARD M. FOX.

\Vitnesses R. E. MILLER, JOHN N. PARKER.

